The Central Sudanic languages

Language family · Africa

WALS includes 26 Central Sudanic languages in 7 branches; all of them are in Africa.

Basic word order: SVO in 15 of the 23 members coded, then no dominant order in 8.

The most solid shared trait: all 24 members coded for Order of Subject and Verb have subject precedes verb (SV).

Of these, 2 have a full page on this site.

Every Central Sudanic language in WALS, placed at the point the atlas gives for it.

Word order against the world

Members with at least 30 coded features, compared with every language WALS codes for each pairing.

dependent before the headboth or otherafter the head

Subject and verb
Central Sudanic100% · none of 6
All WALS80% · 13% of 1,496
Object and verb
Central Sudanicnone · 50% of 6
All WALS47% · 46% of 1,518
Noun phrase and adposition
Central Sudanic50% · 33% of 6
All WALS49% · 43% of 1,184
Genitive and noun
Central Sudanic33% · 50% of 6
All WALS55% · 37% of 1,249
Adjective and noun
Central Sudanic17% · 83% of 6
All WALS27% · 64% of 1,367
Demonstrative and noun
Central Sudanic17% · 83% of 6
All WALS45% · 48% of 1,225
Numeral and noun
Central Sudanic17% · 83% of 6
All WALS42% · 53% of 1,154
Relative clause and noun
Central Sudanicnone · 100% of 5
All WALS17% · 70% of 824

Where the family agrees most
Feature	Most frequent value	Members
Order of Subject and Verb	Subject precedes verb (SV)	24 of 24
Polar Questions	Question particle	16 of 17
Order of Relative Clause and Noun	Relative clause follows noun (NRel)	16 of 17
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions	Interrogative phrases not obligatorily initial	13 of 14
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	Possessive suffixes	13 of 15
Negative Morphemes	Negative particle	16 of 19
Position of Case Affixes	Neither case affixes nor adpositional clitics	15 of 18
Expression of Pronominal Subjects	Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs	10 of 12

Where it is most divided
Feature	Largest group	Members
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Approximately equal amounts of suffixing and prefixing	5 of 19
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	Tense-aspect prefixes	6 of 19
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural suffix	8 of 23
The Morphological Imperative	Second person number-neutral	3 of 8
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause	Initial subordinator word	5 of 12

Language	Branch	Basic order	Features coded
Bagirmi	Bongo-Bagirmi	SVO	111
Bongo	Bongo-Bagirmi	not coded	20
Jur Mödö	Bongo-Bagirmi	not coded	26
Kresh	Kresh	not coded	22
Lendu	Lendu	not coded	20
Lugbara	Moru-Ma'di	no dominant order	60
Ma'di	Moru-Ma'di	no dominant order	31
Mangbetu	Mangbetu	not coded	20
Mbay	Bongo-Bagirmi	SVO	38
Moru	Moru-Ma'di	not coded	25
Ngambay	Bongo-Bagirmi	not coded	27
Ngiti	Lendu	no dominant order	76
Yulu	Bongo-Bagirmi	SVO	30

Not listed: 13 further Central Sudanic languages with fewer than 20 coded features.